Evans,    Henry  Oliver 

Lincol  n  as  he    I  •  ved  Rel  i  qi  on 


LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


LIHCOLH 

+$As  he  lived  Religion 


APRIL,  I928 


ADDRESS  BY 
HENRY  OLIVER  EVANS,  ESQ. 

Mr.  Evans  is  one  of  the  outstanding 
students  of  Lincoln.  Some  time  ago  he 
delivered  an  address  on  Lincoln  the 
Lawyer,  before  the  Hungry  Club  of 
Pittsburgh,  Pa.  This  brought  a  request 
for  an  address  on  Lincoln  and  Religion. 

Count  Tolstoi  considered  Lincoln  as 
the  one  Real  Giant  in  Modern  History. 
He  said:  "Lincoln  was  a  saint  in  Hu- 
manity;  he  was  not  a  great  general  like 
Washington  or  Napoleon,  nor  a  skillful 
statesman  like  Gladstone  or  Frederick 
the  Great,  but  his  supremacy  expressed 
itself  in  his  peculiar  moral  power  and 
in  the  greatness  of  his  character." 

It  seems  to  the  writer  this  address  on 
Lincoln  is  peculiarly  fitting  for  distri' 
bution  by  the  Caddie  Welfare  Commit' 
tee,  as  character  building  is  our  chief 
aim. 

Edward  E.  McCoy 

Chairman 

Caddie  Welfare  Committee 

U.  P.  G.  A. 


Lincoln—  As  he  lived  Religion 


FEW  characters  live  in  his- 
tory uncircumscribed  by 
time  or  place.  They  may 
have  died  10  centuries  ago 
and  yet  we  feel  them  as  modern  as  our' 
selves.  One  hundred  nineteen  years  ago 
such  a  man  was  born  in  a  log  cabin 
on  the  Kentucky  frontier.  Emerson  said, 
"Abraham  Lincoln  exemplified  the  true 
history  of  the  American  people  to  his 
time;  the  pulse  of  20  millions  throbbing 
through  his  heart,  the  thoughts  of  their 
minds  made  articulate  by  his  tongue." 

Walt  Whitman  said  that  the  Greeks 
would  have  made  a  god  out  of  Lincoln; 
Emerson,  that  if  he  had  lived  before  the 
day  of  Gutenberg,  Lincoln  would  have 
become  mythological  like  Aesop;  Inger- 
soil,  that  he  was  the  gentlest  memory  in 
the  world. 


[3] 


The  life  of  no  character  in  history, 
save  Christ,  has  been  so  minutely  studied 
and  every  facet  of  his  many-sided  career 
is  supremely  interesting,  but  none  more 
so  than  his  relation  to  the  churches,  re 
ligion  and  spiritual  life. 

It  would  be  well,  perhaps,  to  refresh 
our  recollections  as  to  the  main  events 
of  Lincoln's  life,  especially  such  as  af- 
ford  a  background  for  this  question. 

He  was  born  February  12,  1809,  that 
fruitful  year  in  which  were  born  Glad' 
stone  and  Darwin.  Kentucky  was  on 
the  frontier  then,  with  primitive,  fron- 
tier conditions  in  every  aspect  of  life, 
in  church  as  well  as  school,  both  of 
which  were  intermittent,  supplied  by 
itinerants,  sometimes  far  apart  in  time. 

When  Lincoln  was  seven,  the  family 
migrated  to  Indiana,  to  even  simpler 
conditions,  where  two  years  later,  Lin' 
coin's  mother,  Nancy  Hanks,  died.  It 
was  many  months  before  the  family  was 


able  to  obtain  a  minister  to  conduct  serv 
ices  over  her  grave. 

Here  Lincoln  went  to  school  a  little — 
his  entire  school  life,  under  five  teachers, 
spread  over  twelve  years,  was  less  than 
one  year — but  most  of  his  study  was  self - 
conducted  at  the  encouragement  of  his 
second  mother,  Sarah  Bush,  whom  his 
father  had  married  three  years  after  com' 
ing  to  Indiana.  Here  he  heard  an  occa- 
sional  itinerant  preacher  and  attended  a 
number  of  emotional  revival  services. 

He  worked  hard.  His  father,  he  said, 
had  "raised  him  to  physical  work  but  not 
to  like  it."  He  split  300  fence  rails  for 
each  yard  of  linsey-woolsey  with  which 
to  make  a  pair  of  trousers.  He  pulled 
fodder  for  three  days  to  pay  for  a  bor- 
rowed  book  which  had  been  spoiled  by 
rain.  He  went,  as  a  hired  man,  to  New 
Orleans  on  a  flat-boat,  walking  home.  He 
ferried  passengers  over  the  Ohio  River 
in  a  skiff  he  built  and  thus  came  to  man- 
hood. 

[*] 


When  he  was  21,  the  family  moved 
again  to  Illinois,  where,  after  they  were 
settled,  Lincoln  left  to  make  his  own  way 
in  the  world.  He  made  another  trip  on 
a  flat-boat  to  New  Orleans,  in  which  he 
is  said  to  have  been  so  affected  by  the 
cruelties  of  slavery  that  he  vowed  "to 
smash  it."  He  acted  as  a  clerk  in  a  store, 
then  became  Captain  in  the  Black 
Hawk  War,  where,  as  he  said,  "he 
fought,  bled  (from  mosquito  bites)  and 
came  away,"  and  ran  unsuccessfully  for 
the  Legislature. 

On  his  return  from  the  wars,  he  en- 
gaged in  an  ill-fated  attempt  to  corner 
all  the  store  business  in  New  Salem  by 
becoming  a  partner  with  Berry  in  three 
stores.  The  firm  failed,  "winked  out,"  as 
he  said,  leaving  him  with  what  he  called 
"his  National  Debt11  of  $1500.00,  which 
took  him  15  years  to  pay  off,  principal 
and  interest.  He  acted  as  postmaster, 
deputy  surveyor  and  began  to  study  law, 


and  was  elected  for  the  first  of  four 
terms  to  the  Legislature. 

If  one  were  to  divide,  roughly,  Lin- 
coln's spiritual  life  into  periods,  this 
may  be  said  to  be  the  end  of  the  first 
period  of  preparation.  Here  Lincoln  had 
his  first  love  affair  with  Ann  Rutledge 
and  on  her  death  plunged  into  that 
slough  of  despond  which  undoubtedly 
affected  all  his  life  subsequently.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  practice  of  law  at  28, 
and  began  that  slow  but  sure  climb  which 
— in  24  years — placed  him  in  a  position 
of  leadership  in  a  strong  and  notable  bar, 
the  end  of  his  second  period,  growth. 

At  32,  he  married  Mary  Todd.  He  had 
devoted  about  as  much  time  to  politics 
as  to  law  until  his  return  from  Congress 
in  1848,  but  for  the  next  six  years  he 
devoted  himself  assiduously  to  the  jealous 
mistress,  the  law,  until  he  was  roused  by 
the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise 
and     plunged    into    his     contest     with 

[7] 


Stephen  A.  Douglas  which  led  to  the  fa' 
mous  debates  in  1858,  then  the  famous 
Cooper  Union  speech  and  the  Presidency. 
The  most  reticent  and  uncommunica- 
tive of  men  as  to  his  inner  life,  pur' 
poses  and  thoughts,  we  are  not  surprised 
to  find  that  there  is  comparatively  little 
authentic  direct  evidence,  and  that  the 
opinions  of  the  witnesses  are  colored  by 
their  individual  predilections  and  preju- 
dices. 
"Seven  Grecian  cities  strove  for  Homer 

dead 
Through  which  the  living  Homer  begged 

for  bread." 
— and  we  find  many  churches  claiming 
Lincoln  as  a  member,  but  the  one  cer- 
tain  fact  in  evidence  is  that  he  was  never 
formally  affiliated  with  any  religious  or' 
ganization,  although  he  was  a  fairly  con' 
stant  attendant,  after  his  marriage,  of  the 
Springfield  congregation  and  was  a  regu- 
lar  attendant  of  the  morning  services,  as 
well  as  of  the  mid-week  prayer  meetings 

[«] 


of  the  New  York  Avenue  Presbyterian 
church  at  Washington. 

Lincoln's  spiritual  life  was,  as  were  all 
the  other  sides  of  his  life,  a  process  of 
development.  His  father  was  a  Predestine 
arian  Baptist  and  infrequent  as  may  have 
been  his  opportunities  for  receiving  doc 
trinal  teaching  during  his  years  in  Ken' 
tucky  and  Indiana  before  his  majority, 
the,  to  us,  harsh  doctrines  of  that  stern 
discipline  made  an  impress  upon  Lincoln 
which  was  never  entirely  erased.  Sunday 
schools  were  unknown  and  later  on  were 
vigorously  opposed  when  first  intro- 
duced. Lincoln,  even  as  a  youth,  knew 
that  the  world  was  round  which  few  of 
the  pioneer  preachers  he  heard  would 
have  acknowledged. 

His  mother  was  highly  intellectual,  of 
strong  memory  and  acute  judgment  and 
his  step-mother  was  a  constant  Bible 
reader  and  Lincoln  later  cherished  and 
constantly  read  her  Bible.  It  is  certain 
that  Lincoln  read  the  Bible  over  and  over 


again — whole  chapters  of  Isaiah,  Psalms, 
the  historical  books  and  New  Testament 
were  in  his  memory,  and  he  would  cor- 
rect misquotation,  giving  chapter  and 
verse. 

When  he  came  to  Illinois  he  fell  in 
with  a  company  of  young  people  affected 
by  the  loose-thinking  which  often  char- 
acterizes youth.  There  he  read  Volney's 
Ruins  and  Tom  Paine's  Age  of  Reason 
and  is  said  by  some  to  have  become  an 
1 'infidel.' '  Those  who  expressed  this  opin- 
ion  considered  themselves  "infidels1'  and 
yet,  the  principal  witness  thus  states  his 
own  religion.  "The  highest  thoughts  and 
acts  of  the  human  soul  and  its  religious 
sphere  are  to  think,  love,  obey  and  wor- 
ship  God,  by  thinking  freely,  by  loving, 
teaching,  doing  good  and  elevating  man- 
kind. My  first  duty  is  to  God,  then  to 
mankind,  and  then  to  the  individual  man 
or  woman." 

Lincoln  was  a  Calvinist  but  he  rebelled 
at  the  doctrine  then  widely  preached  that 

[10] 


some  men  were  capriciously  predestined 
— without,  and  in  spite  of,  any  act  of 
theirs — to  endless  punishment.  He  be' 
lieved  in  future  punishment  —  but  not 
endless  punishment.  Later  on,  he  said, 
"When  any  church  will  inscribe  over  its 
altar  as  its  sole  qualification  for  member' 
ship  the  Savior's  condensed  statement  of 
the  substance  of  both  the  law  and  the 
Gospel — Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy 
God  with  all  thy  heart  and  with  all  thy 
mind  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself — that 
church  I  will  join  with  all  my  heart  and 
soul." 

Lincoln  quoted,  "As  in  Adam  all  die, 
even  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive," 
as  meaning  not  individual  election  and 
particular  salvation  and  damnation  but 
universal  salvation,  after  punishment,  re' 
pentance  and  growth. 

When  we  consider  this  question  we 
must  remember  the  thoughts  and  habits 
of  the  people  among  whom  Lincoln  lived 
from  1840  to  1860,  in  many  respects  not 


unlike  those  in  Dayton,  Tennessee,  to* 
day.  Theological  teaching  was  over-em- 
phasized; public  controversy  and  debate 
over  dogma  was  universal,  and  these 
contests  were  fierce  and  personal.  One 
who  did  not  conform  to  the  community 
opinion  was  outside  the  pale.  This  was 
not  the  "mauve  decade";  black  was  black 
and  white  was  white — and  there  were  no 
grays  or  intervening  shades. 

We  have  come  to  see,  today,  that  we 
are  saved  by  faith  and  works  and  not 
by  knowledge  of  theological  dogmas  and 
statements.  No  men  who  held  such  views 
as  I  have  outlined  would  be  considered 
"infidels"  by  us. 

Perhaps  one  reason  for  Lincoln's  re- 
ticence in  expression  of  his  religious 
views  was  his  experience  in  the  mixture 
of  politics  and  religion.  He  was  twice  op- 
posed as  a  candidate  by  a  famous  Metho- 
dist  itinerant  minister  or  evangelist,  Peter 
Cartwright.  The  fight  against  Lincoln 
was  based  on  two  accusations,  that  he 


was  an  aristocrat  and  a  deist.  We  may 
well  conclude  that  he  was  as  innocent  of 
one  charge  as  the  other,  although  he  re- 
fused to  discuss  the  latter,  saying,  "I  am 
not  going  to  discuss  the  religion  and 
character  of  Jesus  Christ  on  the  political 
stump." 

When  he  came  to  Springfield  he  read 
and  digested  Robert  Chambers'  Vestiges 
of  Creation,  the  first  book  to  connect  the 
natural  sciences  with  the  history  of  crea- 
tion, showing  an  evolutionary  theory 
consistent  with  faith  in  God  and  the 
Bible.  There  he  met  and  became  a 
friend  and  admirer  of  Reverend  James 
Smith,  a  stalwart,  learned  Presbyterian 
minister  and  by  study  of  his  book,  The 
Christian  s  Defense,  became  firmly  con- 
vinced that  the  proof  of  the  divine  au- 
thority and  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures 
was  unanswerable.  He  said  to  his  friend, 
Speed,  "Take  all  of  the  Bible  upon  rea- 
son you  can  and  the  balance  on  faith  and 
you  will  live  and  die  a  happier  man."  He 

[13] 


said  to  a  group  of  colored  men  who  pre' 
sented  him  a  Bible,  "In  regard  to  the 
Great  Book,  I  have  only  to  say,  it  is  the 
best  gift  which  God  has  ever  given  man. 
AH  the  good  from  the  Savior  of  the 
world  is  communicated  to  us  through  this 
book." 

In  Springfield  he  experienced  the  loss 
of  his  first  son  and  this  sorrow,  added  to 
the  sense  of  responsibility  and  call  by 
God  to  save  the  Union,  culminated,  after 
the  death  of  his  second  son  in  Washing- 
ton, in  what  he  called  a  "crystallisation" 
which  we  may  regard  as  the  last  period 
of  his  spiritual  growth. 

Lincoln  copied,  in  Washington,  a  par' 
agraph  from  Baxter's  Saint's  Rest: 

"We  have  faith  given  us,  principal- 
ly that  we  might  believe  and  live  in  it 
in  daily  applications  of  Christ.  You 
may  believe  immediately  (by  God's 
help)  but  getting  assurance  of  it  may 
be  the  work  of  a  great  part  of  your 
life." 

[14] 


a  graphic  statement  of  the  slow  progress, 
unseen  to  others  and  perhaps  to  himself, 
in  his  growth  to  full  fruition.  As  Paul 
expresses  it,  "The  first  man  is  of  the 
earth,  earthy  and  the  second  man  is  from 
heaven.  First  is  that  which  is  natural  and 
afterwards  that  which  is  spiritual." 

What  are  the  outlines  of  his  spiritual 

beliefs  which  emerge  from  this  growth 

as  shown  by  Lincoln's  words  and  acts? 

After  Vicksburg  and  Gettysburg,  he 

said, 

"I  do  most  sincerely  thank  Al- 
mighty God  for  this  occasion.  I  es* 
specially  desire  that  on  this  day  He, 
whose  will,  not  ours,  should  ever  be 
done,  be  everywhere  remembered 
and  reverenced  with  profoundest 
gratitude." 

After  his  issue  of  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation,  he  said, 

"I  can  only  trust  in  God  that  I 
have  made  no  mistake.  It  is  my  ear' 

[15] 


nest  desire  to  know  the  will  of  Prov 
idence  in  this  matter.' ' 
In  his  last  public  speech,  after  peace 
was  declared  and  three  days  before  his 
death,  he  said, 

"In  the  midst  of  rejoicings,  how 
ever,  He  from  whom  all  blessings 
flow,  must  not  be  forgotten.  If  God 
now  wills  the  removal  of  a  great 
wrong  and  wills  also  that  we  of  the 
North,  as  well  as  you  of  the  South, 
shall  pay  fairly  for  our  complicity  in 
that  wrong,  impartial  history  will 
find  therein  new  causes  to  attest  and 
revere  the  justice  and  goodness  of 
God." 

He  wrote  for  his  own  use  a  Medita- 
tion on  the  Divine  Will  which  he  be' 
gins  as  follows: 

"The  will  of  God  prevails." 

On  the  night  of  his  second  election,  he 

said,  "I  give  thanks  to  Almighty  God  for 

this  evidence  of  the  people's  resolution." 

Lincoln  used  Bible  illustrations  in  a  prac' 

[161 


tical  way.  When  it  was  urged  that  ap' 
plicants  for  office  should  swear  they  had 
not  participated  in  the  Civil  war  he  said, 
"On  principle,  I  dislike  an  oath  which 
requires  a  man  to  swear  he  has  not  done 
wrong.  It  rejects  the  Christian  principle 
of  forgiveness  of  sins  on  terms  of  repent' 
ance.  I  think  it  is  enough  if  the  man  does 
no  wrong  thereafter."  When  considering 
a  desertion  case,  he  said,  "Did  you  say 
this  boy  was  once  badly  wounded?  Then 
since  the  Scriptures  say  that  in  the  shed' 
ding  of  blood  is  remission  of  sins,  I  guess 
we  will  have  to  let  him  off." 

Even  his  political  speeches  and  private 
letters  abound  in  scriptural  references 
such  as  to  the  washing  of  the  robes  in 
blood — "If  they  heed  not  Moses  and  the 
prophets,  neither  will  they  be  persuaded 
though  one  rose  from  the  dead", — "They 
seek  a  sign  and  no  sign  shall  be  given 
them," — "The  gates  of  Hell  shall  not 
prevail  against  thee" — "There  is  a  time  to 


keep  silence" — "Stand  still  and  see  the 
salvation  of  the  Lord." 

The  foundation  stone  of  his  celebrated 
debate  with  Douglas  which  made  him  the 
President  was  that  never-to-be-forgotten 
quotation,  "A  house  divided  against  it- 
self cannot  stand."  The  sound  diction  of 
the  King  James  version  and  the  cadence 
of  the  Bible  phrases  sound  the  undertone 
in  his  great  Second  Inaugural : 

"Fondly  do  we  hope,  fervently  do 
we  pray,  that  this  mighty  scourge  of 
war  may  speedily  pass  away.  Yet  if 
God  wills  that  it  continue  until  all 
the  wealth  piled  up  by  the  bond- 
man's 200  years  of  unrequited  toil 
shall  be  sunk  and  until  every  drop 
of  blood  drawn  with  the  lash  shall 
be  paid  with  another  drawn  with 
the  sword,  as  was  said  3,000  years 
ago,  so  still  it  must  be  said,  fcThe 
judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and 
righteous  altogether1." 
Lincoln  had  an  intimate  knowledge  of 

U81 


the  Bible  stories  and  habitually  used 
them  but  never  in  a  mawkish  way.  Lin' 
coin  was  greatly  bothered  by  Radicals 
who  desired  him  to  free  the  slaves.  While 
he,  himself,  abhorred  slavery,  as  a  great 
lawyer  he  had  a  strong  sense  of  the 
rights  of  property  and  preferred  emanci' 
pation  only  after  compensation,  until,  as 
a  war  measure  only,  he  became  convinced 
that  emancipation  without  compensation 
was  necessary  and  unavoidable. 

Three  members  of  Congress,  Sumner, 
Wilson  and  Thad  Stevens  of  our  own 
state  were  especially  importunate  and 
persistent.  Several  months  before  he  had 
decided  that  the  hour  was  come  and 
therefore  issued  the  Emancipation  Proc 
lamation,  Lincoln  was  discussing  this 
constant  and  acute  pressure  with  a  friend 
and  walked  to  a  window  looking  out  over 
Pennsylvania  avenue,  where  he  stood 
looking  out  in  an  attitude  of  sadness  and 
depression.  Suddenly,  he  turned  with  a 
smile    and    twinkling    eyes    and    said: 

[19] 


"When  I  was  a  boy  at  school  reading 
books  and  grammars  were  unknown  and 
all  our  reading  was  done  from  the  Scrip- 
tures. We  stood  up  in  a  great  circle  and 
each  read,  in  succession,  a  verse  from 
some  chapter.  One  day  we  had  the  story 
of  the  faithful  Israelites  who  were 
thrown  into  the  fiery  furnace  and  thence 
delivered  by  the  Lord  without  so  much 
as  the  smell  of  fire  upon  their  garments. 
It  fell  to  one  little  boy  to  read  the  verse 
in  which  occurred,  for  the  first  time  in 
the  chapter,  the  names  of  Shadrach,  Me- 
sach  and  Abednego.  Little  Bud  stumbled 
on  Shadrach,  floundered  on  Mesach  and 
went  all  to  pieces  on  Abednego,  bursting 
into  tears,  then  into  sniffles  but  finally 
became  quiet.  His  blunder  had  been  for" 
gotten  until,  when  his  turn  to  read  was 
approaching  again,  he  set  up  a  wail  and, 
pointing  to  the  verse  he  must  read,  he 
said,  "Look  there,  teacher,  there  comes 
them  three  suckers  agin!" 

With  his  whole  face  lighted  up  with 

[20] 


a  smile,  Lincoln  led  his  friend  to  the 
window  and  pointed  with  his  long,  bony 
finger  to  three  figures  approaching  the 
White  House.  They  were  Sumner,  Wil' 
son  and  Stevens! 

When  malcontent  Republicans  nomi' 
nated  Fremont,  for  Lincoln's  second  term 
at  their  poorly  attended  Cleveland  con- 
vention, he  picked  up  the  Bible  which 
habitually  lay  on  his  desk  and  turned  the 
leaves  to  the  account  of  David's  army 
when,  as  an  outlaw,  he  fled  from  Saul's 
fury,  as  found  in  I  Samuel  22 :  2  and 
read,  "And  everyone  that  was  discon- 
tented  gathered  themselves  unto  him; 
and  he  became  a  captain  over  them  and 
there  were  with  him  about  400  men." 

When  he  was  remonstrated  with  for 
giving  office  to  one  who  had  opposed 
him,  he  said,  "I  think  I  have  Scriptural 
authority  for  appointing  him.  You  re' 
member  when  the  Lord  was  on  Mount 
Sinai  getting  out  a  commission  for 
Aaron,  that  same  Aaron  was  at  the  foot 

[21] 


of  the  mountain,  making  a  false  god  for 
the  people  to  worship.  Yet  Aaron  got  his 


commission ! 


r 


In  his  debate  with  Douglas  he  used  Paul 
before  Agrippa  as  an  illustration  and 
when  compaint  was  made  as  to  Stanton 
he  said,  "Go  home,  my  friend,  and  read 
attentively  the  10th  verse  of  the  30th 
chapter  of  Proverbs,  'Accuse  not  a  serv 
ant  unto  his  master,  lest  he  curse  thee 
and  thou  be  found  guiltyY, 

At  the  cabinet  meeting  held  on  the 
last  morning  of  his  life  he  spoke  in  a 
most  friendly  manner  of  the  Southerners, 
said  he  wouldn't  agree  to  hanging  even 
the  worst  of  them,  and  ended,  "Too 
many  lives  have  already  been  sacrificed. 
Anger  must  be  put  aside."  He  said,  "I 
have  not  willingly  planted  a  thorn  in  any 
man's  bosom.  We  must  not  sully  victory 
with  harshness." 

On  the  way  from  Richmond  after  the 
declaration  of  peace,  when  it  was  sug- 
gested that  Jeff  Davis  deserved  to  be 

[22] 


hanged,  Lincoln  said,  "Judge  not,  that 
ye  be  not  judged,"  and  taking  a  little 
worn  Macbeth  from  his  pocket  he  read 
twice  over, 
"Duncan  is  in  his  grave. 

After   life's  fitful   fever  he  sleeps 
well; 

Treason  has  done  its  worst;  not  steel 
nor  poison, 

Malice  domestic,  foreign  levy,  noth- 
ing 

Can  touch  him  further." 

The  last  official  action  of  his  life  was 
endorsing  "Let  it  be  done"  on  the  peti' 
tion  of  a  Confederate  to  take  the  oath  of 
allegiance.  The  last  Act  of  Congress  he 
signed  was  one  requiring  the  motto,  "In 
God  we  Trust"  upon  our  coins.  By  Presi' 
dential  Order  he  decreed  Sabbath  Ob- 
servance and  said,  "The  sacred  rights  of 
Christian  soldiers  and  sailors,  a  becoming 
deference  to  the  best  sentiments  of  a 
Christian  people,  and  a  due  regard  for 
the  Divine  will  demand  that  Sunday  la* 

123] 


bor  in  the  Army  and  Navy  be  reduced 
to  the  measure  of  strict  necessity." 

Lincoln  had  faith  in  and  practiced 
prayer,  not  only  as  a  means  of  obtaining 
results  from  God  but  also,  as  establishing 
a  covenant  relation  with  God.  When  he 
first  presented  the  Emancipation  Proch' 
mation  to  the  Cabinet  on  July  22,  1862, 
they  practically  voted  it  down.  When, 
on  September  22nd,  he  again  presented 
it,  he  said  it  was  for  discussion  of  its 
terms  only,  since  he  had  promised  his 
Maker  that  if  Lee  was  driven  out  of 
Maryland  and  Pennsylvania,  he  would 
free  the  slaves.  He  prayed  for  victory  at 
Gettysburg  and  when  news  of  Lee's  sur' 
render  reached  the  Cabinet  meeting  it 
was  at  the  suggestion  of  Lincoln  that  all 
dropped  to  their  knees  and  offered  their 
thanks  to  God.  He  said,  "I  have  been 
driven  many  times  to  my  knees  by  the 
overwhelming  conviction  that  I  had  no' 
where  else  to  go.  However  I  might  be 
misapprehended  by  men,  I  am  glad  to 

[24] 


know  that  no  thought  or  intent  of  mine 
escapes  the  observation  of  that  Judge  by 
whose  decree  I  expect  to  stand  or  fall  in 
this  world  or  the  next."  "The  only  ruler 
I  have  is  my  conscience,  following  God 
in  it."  He  implored  His  assistance  in  his 
letter  of  acceptance  of  the  nomination  to 
the  Presidency. 

Lincoln's  religion  was  always  practical. 
In  this,  as  in  other  things,  he  brushed 
aside  formalism.  To  a  minister  who  said, 
"Let  us  have  faith,  Mr.  President,  that 
the  Lord  is  on  our  side,"  he  said,  "I  am 
not  at  all  concerned  about  that,  for  I 
know  that  the  Lord  is  always  on  the  side 
of  the  right;  but  it  is  my  constant  anxiety 
and  prayer  that  I  and  this  nation  may 
be  on  the  Lord's  side."  He  abhorred  in* 
tolerance  and  risked  political  defeat  by 
denouncing  the  equivalent  of  our  Ku 
Klux  Klan.  He  said,  "God  bless  the 
Methodist  Church — bless  all  the  churches 
— and  blessed  be  God  who  in  this,  our 
great  trial,  giveth  us  the  churches." 

[25] 


Lincoln  believed  in  conscious  commun* 
ion  with  an  almighty,  mysterious,  benefi' 
cent  Power  concerning  itself  not  less 
with  human  affairs  than  with  the  march 
of  the  seasons  and  the  sweep  of  the  con' 
stellations.  It  has  been  said  that  God 
was  not,  to  him,  a  personal  God.  I  do  not 
believe  this.  This  is  a  popular,  a  fashion' 
able  belief,  especially  today.  A  study  of 
Lincoln's  words  and  acts  will,  I  am  con' 
vinced,  lead  one  to  the  inevitable  conclu' 
sion  that  God  was  to  him,  a  person,  his 
Heavenly  Father.  God  to  him  was  an 
ever'present,  ever'regnant  influence.  Be' 
lief  in  God  was  a  challenge  to  singleness 
of  purpose.  He  would  lift  up  to  the  All' 
Pure  clean  hands  and  a  pure  heart.  He 
believed  he  was  called  by  God  to  a  great 
task.  He  quoted  often, 
"There's  a  divinity  that  shapes  our 
ends, 
Rough-hew  them  how  we  wilL,, 
Lincoln  believed  in  Immortality,  he  be 
lieved  in  the  Brotherhood  of  Man;  he  be' 

[26] 


lieved  in  the  Fatherhood  of  God.  This 
was  nowhere  more  beautifully  or  more 
touchingly  illustrated  than  in  that  sim- 
ple but  matchless  farewell  address  to  his 
neighbors  when  he  left  Springfield  for 
Washington — never  to  return — 

"I  now  leave,  not  knowing  when 
or  whether  I  ever  may  return,  with 
a  task  before  me  greater  than  that 
which  rested  upon  Washington. 
Without  the  assistance  of  that  Dp 
vine  Being  who  ever  attended  him 
I  cannot  succeed.  With  that  assist' 
ance  I  cannot  fail.  Trusting  in  Him, 
who  can  go  with  me  and  remain 
with  you,  and  be  everywhere  for 
good,  let  us  confidently  hope  that 
all  will  yet  be  well.  To  His  care 
commending  you,  as  I  hope  in  your 
prayers  you  will  commend  me,  I  bid 
you  an  affectionate  farewell." 
A  very  interesting  and  significant  ex' 
pression  of  this  dependence,  as  it  seems 
to  me,  is  shown  by  a  study  of  the  famous 


Gettysburg  address.  There  is  a  wide- 
spread impression  that  this  was  hastily 
composed  on  the  train  from  Washington 
to  Gettysburg.  There  are  two  objections, 
at  least,  to  this  mistaken  idea;  first,  the 
fact  that  it  was  Lincoln's  habit  to  prepare 
carefully,  even  unimportant  speeches, 
such  as  responses  to  groups  of  serenaders. 
Although  Edward  Everett  was  expected 
to  make  the  main  address,  which,  in  fact, 
covered  three  hours,  it  is  hardly  conceiv- 
able that  Lincoln  did  not  consider  this  an 
important  address. 

The  second  objection  is  that  the  ad- 
dress was  carefully  prepared  in  Wash- 
ington, was  shown  there  to  members  of 
the  Cabinet  and  by  one  competent  judge, 
who  read  both  speeches  there,  it  was  said, 
before  Lincoln  left  Washington,  that 
Lincoln  had  said  more  in  40  lines  than 
Everett  in  three  hours. 

The  significant  thing  is  that,  although 
composed,  except  for  trifling  verbal 
changes,  in  Washington,  reviewed  on  the 

[28] 


train  and  again  the  night  before  in  Get' 
tysburg,  yet,  in  the  heat  of  delivery, 
when  his  soul  was  fired  by  the  sights  and 
thoughts  surrounding  this  turning  point 
in  the  Rebellion,  Lincoln  added,  extern' 
poraneously  and  from  the  depths  of  his 
inner  nature,  the  words  "under  God"  in 
the  final  phrase  "that  we  highly  resolve 
that  these  dead  shall  not  have  died  in 
vain — that  this  nation,  under  God,  shall 
have  a  new  birth  of  freedom — and  that 
government  of  the  people,  by  the  people, 
for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from  the 
earth." 

Nicolay  knew  Lincoln  intimately,  in 
years  of  terrible  stress,  and  said, 

"He  had  faith  in  the  eternal  jus- 
tice  and  boundless  mercy  of  Provi- 
dence and  made  the  Golden  Rule  of 
Christ  his  practical  creed." 
John    Hay    called    him  "the    greatest 
character  since  Christ.1'  Of  him  we  may 
well  use  the  language  of  James  3:17: 
"First  pure,  then  peacable,  gentle 

[29] 


and  easy  to  be  entreated,   full  of 
mercy,    and,    good    fruits,   without 
partiality,  and  without  hypocrisy." 
Lincoln  has  been  called  a  Christian 
without  a  creed."  In  the  sense  that  he 
neither  subscribed  to  nor  definitely  for- 
mulated his  creed,  this  is  true  but  Doctor 
Barton,    author   of   many    authoritative 
and  interesting  books  on  Lincoln,  has, 
from   Lincoln's   own  words,   stated   his 
creed  as  follows : 

"I  believe  in  God,  the  Almighty 
Ruler  of  Nations,  our  great  and 
good  and  merciful  Maker,  our 
Father  in  Heaven  who  notes  the 
fall  of  a  sparrow,  and  numbers  the 
hairs  of  our  heads. 

I  believe  in  His  eternal  truth  and 
justice. 

I  recognise  the  sublime  truth  an- 
nounced  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  and 
proven  by  all  history  that  those  na- 
tions  only  are  blest  whose  God  is 
the  Lord. 

[301 


I  believe  that  it  is  the  duty  of 
nations  as  well  as  of  men  to  own 
their  dependence  upon  the  overrule 
ing  power  of  God,  and  to  invoke 
the  influence  of  His  Holy  Spirit;  to 
confess  their  sins  and  transgressions 
in  humble  sorrow,  yet  with  assured 
hope  that  genuine  repentance  will 
lead  to  mercy  and  pardon. 

I  believe  that  it  is  meet  and  right 
to  recognize  and  confess  the  pres- 
ence  of  the  Almighty  Father  equally 
in  our  triumphs  and  in  those  sor- 
rows which  we  may  justly  fear  are 
a  punishment  inflicted  upon  us  for 
our  presumptuous  sins  to  the  need- 
ful end  of  our  reformation. 

I  believe  that  the  Bible  is  the  best 
gift  which  God  has  ever  given  to 
men.  All  the  good  from  the  Saviour 
of  the  world  is  communicated  to  us 
through  this  book. 

I  believe  the  will  of  God  pre- 
vails. Without  Him  all  human  reli- 


anceisvain.  Without  the  assistance  of 
that  Divine  Being,  I  cannot  succeed. 
With  that  assistance  I  cannot  fail. 

Being  a  humble  instrument  in  the 
hands  of  our  Heavenly  Father,  I  dc 
sire  that  all  my  works  and  acts  may 
be  according  to  his  will;  and  that  it 
may  be  so,  I  give  thanks  to  the  Al' 
mighty,  and  seek  His  aid. 

I  have  a  solemn  oath  registered  in 
heaven  to  finish  the  work  I  am  in,  in 
full  view  of  my  responsibility  to  my 
God,  with  malice  toward  none;  with 
charity  for  all;  with  firmness  in  the 
right  as  God  gives  me  to  see  the 
right.  Commending  those  who  love 
me  to  His  care,  as  I  hope  in  their 
prayers  they  will  commend  me,  I 
look  through  the  help  of  God  to  a 
joyous  meeting  with  many  loved 
ones  gone  before. " 
Richard  Watson  Gilder  has  given  us 

a  beautiful  expression  of  our  universal 

feeling  towards  Lincoln : 

[321 


ON  THE  LIFE-MASK  OF 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

"This  bronze  doth  keep  the  very  form 
and  mold 
Of  our  great  martyr's  face.  Yes,  this 

is  he; 
That  brow  all  wisdom,  all  benignity; 
That  human,  humorous  mouth;  those 
cheeks  that  hold 
Like  some  harsh  landscape  all  the  sum* 
mer's  gold; 
That  spirit  fit  for  sorrow,  as  the  sea 
For  storms  to  beat  on;  the  lone  agony 
Those  silent,  patient  lips  too  well  fore- 
told. 
Yes,  this  is  he  who  ruled  a  world  of  men 
As  might  some  prophet  of  the  older 

day — 
Brooding  above  the  tempest  and  the 

fray 
With    deep-eyed   thought   and   more 
than  mortal  ken. 
A  power  was  his  beyond  the  touch  of 
art 
Or  armed  strength  —  his  pure  and 
mighty  heart." 


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